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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Memorial Day Crockpot (Updated, Finally!)

Decided yesterday evening that some feijoada was in order, but in a sort of "similar but different" mode. It is originally a slave dish from Brazil. At the end of the day, the workers in the butchering sheds would sort of sweep up the floor and put in the pot, along with black beans, onions and whatever else was handy. I first heard about it on one of the cable food channels about ten years ago. When I Googled it later, I discovered that no two recipes were alike, and some wildly different.

That said, here's today's take:

First off, I used Great Northern white beans instead of black. The meats are two large chunks leftover Easter ham, excavated from the freezer, two monster chicken thighs, and most of a pound of Jimmy Dean sausage. I sauteed a largish onion with the sausage, then added that to the mix. I was going to go with my standby pepper sauce, Tapatio, but then remembered the Thai Hot peppers from last year's garden, so three of those bad boys went in, along with a light handful of Thai Basil leaves. There's about a pint of runoff from what might be a chicken stew in the pot, and a bit of water.

I will update as the story develops. More, later!

Update: I left the raw ingredients covered in the pot on high for about 6 hours, thinking that I'd take some out for dinner, and let the rest simmer on low for a couple more hours. Turns out, it was done! I was right in not adding any salt, as the ham contained enough to season the whole stew. The Thai Basil, which has a more anise flavor than Sweet Basil, complimented the flavor of the Jimmy Dean sausage, and the three Thai Hot peppers gave it just enough kick to be interesting but not painful.

I will definitely make this again. My daughter said she might try it too.